Chapter 131

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Thursday 25/11/92

Dear Spencer

I don't know if Colin was targeted for attack specifically because he was on his way to see me or not but he was found with a bunch of grapes beside him so that's the reason he was out of the dorms in the hallway when the attack occurred. He would have been safe if he hadn't been trying to sneak in and see me which makes me feel incredibly guilty because I hate to admit it but if someone had to be turned to stone, I'm kind of glad it was Colin and his stupid camera. It is such a relief to know he's not going to be there waiting to jump out at me from behind every corner. I feel kind of guilty about how much I'm liking him not being there, particularly because I think he was coming to visit me when he was attacked, but honestly it's the first time all year I've been able to relax while showering or changing clothes and not try to hide when I come in from Quidditch training or herbology wet and dirty.

Unless there are rules about taking photos of people without their permission, Colin isn't much of a rulebreaker from what I've heard and he's definitely not out lurking about trying to find and photograph blackmail material, he's a bit too naïve for all that. I don't even think he realises that most of us don't want him taking our photo all the time. The sad thing is that nobody seems to be missing him much, not even the boys in his dorm room. He seems to be the odd man out even more than someone outside our dorm would think Neville is. I don't know if he they are as relieved he's not here constantly taking photos of everyone as I am.

Hermione's started brewing the Polyjuice potion, apparently she already had all the ingredients she needs for the first week in her potions kit or at least managed to borrow it from the student's supply closet in the potions classroom. That's going to make her even less likely to listen to reason about not stealing the rest of the ingredients since she doesn't have time to order them before they're needed now and she isn't going to want to admit defeat now that she has started brewing. The stupid thing, or one of the things even more stupid than brewing the potion in the first place, is she's decided to brew it in Moaning Myrtle's toilet. The ghost regularly dives head first into the lavatory and splashes water everywhere flooding the place so girls tend to try to avoid it but sometimes when you've got to go you don't have time to be fussy and go up or down stairs and across the castle to the next nearest toilet, it makes no sense to set up in a room that is sometimes used and that Ron and I could get in trouble just being seen coming in and out of when there are plenty of unused classrooms that would be safer and more convenient. She would have been better trying to brew it in her dorm room or somewhere as close as possible to the common room since there's going to be times she needs to sneak out during the night to stir it or add things and right next to the scene of the first attack is a stupid place to be hanging around. It's almost like she's trying to put us into the path of whoever is doing this. And it's not as if it's out of the way, that corridor is used a lot during the day. Now she's going to be even more pissed off when I refuse to steal stuff for her. I think she's counting on me using my invisibility cloak.

When I told Ron and Hermione that Dumbledore said the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before, Ron took it as proof that it's Malfoy. He said that his Dad must have opened it last time and shown him how which isn't impossible I guess, but the whole jumping to conclusions is ridiculous. Hogwarts Castle has been a school for about a thousand years so how you could say that Draco Malfoy's father is the only wizard in all those years who could have opened the Chamber of Secrets is so stupid I couldn't find the words to tell him what an idiotic idea that was. Hermione didn't say anything to him about it either, surely she must have been as flabbergasted as I was. I think that there might be a feud between the Weasleys and the Malfoys, I'm sure I told you that their father's ended up throwing punches and brawling on the floor in the bookshop when we did our school shopping. I'm wondering whether I became Malfoy's enemy by default because Ron was sitting with me when he came and introduced himself on the train on the way to school last year.

Surprisingly Hermione manned up and agreed to be the one robbing Snape, though she gave me a dirty look when I refused to help. She said that Ron and I just had to create a diversion which Ron did by chucking a firework into one of the Slytherin's Cauldrons halfway through class. Ron and Hermione insisted that I do it which I pointed out was a terrible idea since Snape watches me more closely than anyone else but Hermione pointed out that Ron really didn't have the speed reflexes to do it quickly enough before Snape heard something and turned around again. She had a valid point but I reminded her that I had already told her that I wouldn't have anything to do with brewing the potion and I certainly wasn't going to risk being expelled stealing ingredients for it. Ron managed to throw the firecracker without being seen by anyone who would tell Snape, Neville inadvertently helped him out there by putting the wrong ingredient into his potion and making it belch purple smoke. When Snape found the firecracker he blew up like we'd shoved the firecracker up his arse. I don't think I've ever seen him so genuinely angry. He was justified though, the potion went everywhere and nearly the whole class got splashed with it, luckily it was finished and correctly made or it could have been really dangerous. Unfortunately, we couldn't get it into Malfoy's Cauldron he sits up the front in potions, , but he got splashed in the face and his nose swelled up like a balloon, it was so heavy he couldn't even hold his head upright. Ron wanted to get it in Malfoy's cauldron because of his feud thing but I thought his potion was the most likely to be correctly made, he is good at potions. We all got lucky that the potion the firecracker did land in was finished correctly and that Snape had the antidote ready and fixed us all up, even the Gryffindors. I think Dean and Seamus saw Ron do it but they were really convincing when they told Snape they didn't know who it was. It's a wonder Snape didn't notice that Hermione wasn't injured though, she was the only one who wasn't, even Ron and I made sure not to duck until we saw the others ducking. I think Snape still knows though, he couldn't have got the memory from my mind but Ron and Hermione should both be open books from a legilimency point of view, unless Hermione has read about it in the library and ordered a book on it from the bookshop though I've never seen her with one.

None of the professors talk about their family lines or personal lives at all, nor do we ever see them wearing anything other than their teaching robes, except if they're called out to an emergency in the middle of the night. We tend to assume all of them were single since they all live at the school even on weekends. I know that professor idiot isn't married he mentioned being a bachelor in his autobiography 'Magical Me' which was released last spring. I asked Dean and Seamus and Seamus told me that he thought that they're all pureblood because he didn't think that the school employed anything less than purebloods, and I admit he has a point from listening to Angelina, Alicia and Katie complain, even the muggle studies professor doesn't seem to have spent any time at all in the nonmagical world, just like Ron says his father works in muggle relations but doesn't seem to know anything about the nonmagical world either. They'd be so much better off employing a muggleborn who grew up in the nonmagical world for those positions.

Dean, Seamus and I already suspected that Dumbledore might have put a monitoring charm on the picture before announcing the amnesty on the prankster if it was removed. There are no portraits near the DADA classroom and the way the notice-me-not charm and password is he can't tell when it was set up. If he actually doesn't know who did it, it must be driving him crazy he likes to pretend that he knows everything and it would be just like him to pull aside the student who was caught trying to undo it, not to punish them perhaps but to make them aware that he knows and perhaps to make them feel he's done them a personal favour in not telling Professor Lockhart or issuing them with points lost and a detention. We hadn't really considered professor idiot being able to effectively booby trap the picture to punish any one coming to remove it but the idea gives me cold chills. If he can do so much harm with getting wrong spells intended to be nonharmful, Merlin only knows what damage he could do mucking up a spell intended to hex someone.

I played a new prank on Professor Idiot, I got the idea from what you wrote in your letters about trying to find a targeted notice-me-not spell to make him ignore me. I couldn't find a targeted spell that works that way, you can gear the notice-me-not specifically for people who have or do not have magic, or specifically to males or females or people of age or not but not just one person unless they have something absolutely unique about them. So, I could cast it the other way so only parselmouths or people who could not speak parseltongue could notice him but there's nothing categorically unique about him, for the spell to target only him. I suppose I could try casting a notice-me-not on myself geared to make idiots unable to notice me but I'm a little afraid of what the results would tell me. Anyway, back to the prank, I cast a notice-me-not spell at the back of his head on my way out of class the other day. It was easy to be the last to leave without drawing suspicion he almost always asks me to help him clean up the classroom and he doesn't have a class after ours so there's nearly a two hour gap until dinner which from the look of him he usually spends changing clothes and primping. By help clean he means entertaining me by telling me how wonderful he is while I do all the work. He didn't even feel the spell hit him but he was looking very upset at dinner when none of the other professors were paying attention to his rambling. They all looked much calmer and more content not listening to what he was saying and he was getting redder and redder until I am surprised he didn't run and hide at the embarrassment when he thought he was being ignored in front of most of the school. I could still notice him, I think that's because I cast the charm and I wanted to see his reaction. The funny thing was it had worn off by breakfast but someone else had cast it on him again before dinner that night. I don't think it was any of my friends, I hadn't shared this idea with anyone. Whoever did it was more powerful than me I had to concentrate hard to see him in his seat at dinner and it lasted all of Saturday. He was noticeable for a bit Sunday morning before someone cast it again. Snape looked really pleased about it but then so did most of the others and I don't think he would've been so openly pleased if he was the one who did it. He's normally really hard to read how he feels. I can't see the idiot well enough to see how he's reacting to the spells anymore but on Saturday he seemed to be standing up and yelling a lot and Sunday he was just sitting still and didn't eat much. I think it really upset him. At least they'll have to let it wear off for him to teach classes, unless they want to teach them for him.

Your friend always

Harry

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

Please stay safe everyone.